How to Be a Woman

Caitlin Moran's 'How to Be a Woman' is disguised as a light hearted chick-lit flavoured celebrity biography. To be fair it is autobiographical and written in a light hearted style, but it certainly isn't the kind of book you can write off as 'just another' of 'those' books. For one thing, it actually is funny.

Caitlin Moran is a journalist who started her career at Melody Maker and progressed through to the broadsheets. She can often be found twittering alongside the likes of Stephen Fry and Giles Coren.

Moran talks about her experiences of being female. From her teenage years, passing through relationships and childbirth, through to ageing. She voices things that other's shy away from, such as fantasy relationships. I'm sure I didn't think I was the only one to process these things through my mind and take them right through to the gut wrenching break up conclusion. Ok. Maybe I did. It's refreshing to hear that even if Moran is the only one as mental as I am, at least I'm not on my own.

Throughout the book she takes a look at feminism and asks some important questions such as 'Why on earth is it suddenly uncool to be a feminist?' and 'Why do we spend so much money waxing our pubic hair?' Important questions. I remember as a teenager in the late 1990s being confused and surprised that my declaration of feminism led others to ask whether I was a lesbian. Ok so I was rather parcial to my Doctor Marten boots at the time, but surely ALL women should love themselves and champion other women without wanting to sleep with them?

On the pubic front, Moran suggests that the reason the Brazilian has become so fashionable is in fact due to pornography - the camera needs to see exactly what is going on down there. Part of it is clearly also due to women being very concerned about what other women think (and therefore being their own worst enemies). Let's face it, unkempt underarm and pubic hair suggests lack of looking after oneself and therefore a lack of hygiene. Something no one wants to be accused of. But let's admit also that pubic hair growing back is one of the itchiest things known to ladykind.

Moving on to the end of the book, Moran talks about the plastic surgery generation. Once a woman who has enough money gets to a certain age, the nips and tucks start appearing. The botox, the breast lifts, the chemical peels... they all start turning women into identikit robots. A sort of Stepford Wife conveyor belt of pre menopausal ball breakers. Is growing old also considered to be unhygienic in 2011? And are we tweaking and nipping to look good for men or because we are scared of the disapproving looks of other women?